Currency exchange service to continue at Blue Water Bridge

A “seamless” changeover is expected at the end of the month when a tenant takes over the currency exchange at the Blue Water Bridge.

The operator of the Canadian side of the crossing, the Federal Bridge Corporation, said it has entered into a five-year lease agreement with The Exchange House at Blue Water Bridge for the currency exchange building.

The new tenant business will continue to offer currency exchange services there, as well as lottery sales and other traveler amenities, the corporation said.

The changeover to the new operator is expected to take place without any interruption to the service, said corporation spokesperson Andre Girard.

Back in the fall, the corporation announced it was getting out of the money changing business and its currency exchange operation would close as of Feb. 28.

The corporation said the store-front exchange it operated for many years was considered ancillary to its core mandate and the decision was made to offer the space for lease.

An initial call for lease proposals for the building that sits at the approach to the bridge in Point Edward didn’t result in any qualified bids, Girard said.

“A third party company approached us afterword and it took a while but now it’s resolved.”

In September, the bridge corporation said seven jobs would be impacted by its decision to leave the currency exchange business. The positions being lost included a manager, along with four full-time and two part-time cashiers.

Girard said three currency exchange employees accepted a separation package, two exercised “bumping rights” under the terms of the collective agreement, one part-time cashier took a position in the tolls, and one part-timer left the corporation.

The change at the currency exchange was part of a review of operations that followed the decision by the federal government to amalgamate the former Blue Water Bridge Authority with the Federal Bridge Corporation in 2015.